from here

Canterbury & South Island:

Central Plains Water hearing: Commissioners' minute. ie directions for an independent review of nutrient and other contamination issues, before the hearing resumes in October. (24 June, ECan).

Christchurch manufacturer can continue to emit contaminants next to school, despite fears it caused the ill-health of some teachers. (23 June, Stuff/The Press).

The latest from Canterbury University Press, "New Zealand Inventory of Biodiversity", will launch in Wellington, 2 July. The first of three volumes that will provide a complete review and inventory of New Zealand’s entire living and fossil biodiversity. More here. (www.canterbury.ac.nz).

BioBlitz Christchurch 2009: Tallies for April's BioBlitz at Liffey's Domain, Lincoln - 1537 species, almost half of them bacteria. (LandcareResearch/Manaaki Whenua).

Character housing maintenance grants open on 1 July. (22 June, CCC).

Major grant for historic church. St Paul's, corner of Madras and Cashel Sts. (25 June, CCC).

Marlborough: Invasive and potentially destructive ants discovered in more than 12 sites in Marlborough. (19 June, Marlborough Express/Stuff).

Nelson: Blackcurrants could help athletes recover from the impact of exercise, according to new research. (24 June, The Nelson Mail/Stuff).

Matakitaki River: Dam opponents set to fight. Set up River Guardians Murchison Inc. and tell Network Tasman to bugger off. (23 June, Nelson Evening Mail/Stuff).

Rangitata River: Repair work in full swing after April & May's floods. (24 June, ECan).

Timaru: Steps being taken to turn Timaru into a transition town. (22 June, Timaru Herald/Stuff).

Kurow: ECan decides not to prosecute Awakino Station over fire damage to 380ha of Conservation land. (24 June, ECan).

Wanaka: Subdivision plan near the Clutha River outlet faces stiff opposition.

Milford: Mono-rail plan back on track. (25 June, Southland Times/Stuff).

North Island & national:

20 Year NIWA study: Farms' run-off the trouble. Nitrogen levels rose at 52 sites and fell at none. Phosphorous levels increased at 22 sites and fell at only nine. (21 June, NZ Herald).

Meat sector must change, but little expectation it will happen: MAF. (25 June, Otago Daily Times).

Councils to look at local controls on GM. (25 June, NZ Herald).

Tenants given chance to buy their state house. (24 June, Otago Daily Times).

Heat pump sales spark fears for nation's power supply. (20 June, Stuff/The Press).

Kaipara Harbour: Crest Energy's 200 underwater turbine power plan sparks fish stock fears. Could re-ignite seabed & foreshore debate. (24 June, Dominion Post/Stuff).

June 30 deadlines looming for forest owners to avoid penalty in a "chaotic" Emissions Trading Scheme build-up, says Wairarapa consultant. (23 June, Wairarapa Times-Age).

Masterton: Opposition to border strip irrigation to dispose of effluent water. (24 June, Dominion Post/Stuff).

Spooks spied on high school revolutionaries (now Green MPs Delahunty and Bradford). (23 June, Stuff/Dominion Post).

Keisha Castle-Hughes joins Greenpeace on climate change mission. (22 June, Otago Daily Times).

Kapiti/Horowhenua: Mystery remains over cause of hundreds of fish deaths. (20 June, Stuff/Dominion Post).

We could be killing birds through our kindness: Nectar feeders need clean bowls. (20 June, Otago Daily Times).

Northland: Orca attack: Expert bags rare snack-shot of whales targetting skate livers. (23 June, The Northern Advocate).

Auckland's Rangitoto, Motutapu Islands restoration programme underway. "One of the most challenging island restoration projects DOC has attempted." Organisers hope to create a sanctuary for native species, including kiwi, takahe and tuatara. (18 June, DOC).

Taupo: Golf course (predator proof) fence to ensure more birdies. (24 June, Dominion Post/Stuff).

Waiau Pa, Pukekohe: New home for Kaimanawa horse. (23 June, DOC).

Opotiki/Gisborne: Te awa a Tamatea: Communities celebrate Waioeka Journey opening. (23 June, DOC).

Wellington secondary students' chance to be a ranger for a day on World Ranger Day, July 31. (18 June, DOC).

School Food petition - please sign. MP Sue Kedgley is circulating a petition calling for the reinstatement of nutrition guidelines in schools, which the government repealed earlier this year. With guidelines gone, schools are free to sell as much junk food as they like. Find (& print) a copy of the petition here.

Re-linked awards, submissions, consultations etc:

• Last days! Canterbury Aoraki Conservation Board calls for nominations for 2009 Conservation Awards. By 30 June.
  
  
• Nominations open for 2009 Roger Award. (18 June, CAFCA). (Campaign against foreign control of Aotearoa).
  
  
• ECan's Environment Enhancement Fund open: 1 June - 31 August. Anyone can apply for up to $5000 for projects that benefit the health of ecosystems in the region. More info/applications: www.ecan.govt.nz/eef.
  
  
• Sign On: help avoid catastrophic climate change. Sign on here. (www.signon.org.nz). Greenpeace climate change campaign - to
  get NZ to commit to target of 40% GHG reduction by 2020 at UN climate talks in Copenhagen in December.
  Also: Actress and Sign On ambassador, Robyn Malcolm, hits back after Dominion Post low blows. (5 June, Signon.org.nz).
  

& from there

• China: Environmental restoration plan scrapped to grow crops as food shortage fears rise. (23 June, The Guardian).
  
  
• US: The Global food crisis. The end of plenty. (June issue, National Geographic). (NB: 13 pages. Short ones though - ed).
  
  
• UK: The debt crisis is an environmental disaster. The UK's liabilities make transition to a steady state economy, let alone a managed contraction, much harder to achieve. (George Monbiot, 22 June, The Guardian).
  
  
• US: Can the US afford to let California fail? Could become the only First World state without subsistence benefits for poor children. A fiscal meltdown by California (world's 8th largest economy)... would surely destabilize the US, if not world wider. (19 June, Time).
  
  
• US: Too complex to exist. Systemic risk: once everything is connected, problems can spread as easily as solutions, sometimes more so. Aren't firms that are "too big to fail" really too big to be permitted to exist? (14 June, Boston Globe).
  
  
• US: Green Shoots: an alternative view. I am seeing green shoots everywhere these days. But not in the places Wall Street's strident financial cheerleaders and Washington's happy economists are. Kurt Cobb, (21 June, Resource Insights).
  
  
• Bolivia: Energy battleground of the 21st century? Japan and China fight it out for the right to mine Lithium - the critical weapon, under current technology, for control of the global market in electric vehicles. (15 June, Times Online).
  
  
• EU: European farmers turn to biogas plants. About 8000 so far, thousands more on the way. (18 June, Wall Street Journal).
  
  
• US report: massive imbalances in global fertiliser use. ( 21 June, Energy Bulletin/Stanford University).
  
  
• US: My home, my shadow home: where we really live. e.g. the Dutch don't live in Holland. Sharon Astyk. (22 June, Casaubon's Book).
  
  
• UK: Elegant upper class anarchist puts swine before pearls & makes hard-hitting film: Pig Business. (21 June, The Guardian/Observer).
  
  
• US: More choices at garden farm markets. The allure of open air fresh food markets. Gene Logsdon. (22 June, Organic to Be.org).
  
  
• UK: Supermarket chain to banish the cardboard cereal box – and has started selling milk in polythene bags. (Britain produces more than 10 million tons of waste packaging a year). (21 June, Times Online).
  
  
• US: Misled by Greenwash: 98% of supposedly environmentally friendly products in US supermarkets make false or misleading claims, campaigners say. (21 June, The Guardian).
  
  
• UK: She's 101 - Britain's oldest green campaigner. (21 June, The Indpendent).
  
  
• Water: 50 gallons per mile. i.e. estimate of the amount of water needed to grow biofuels to power a car for one mile. (19 June, SF Gate).
  
  Technology:
  
• US research: High altitude wind could power big cities and beyond. (18 June, ecoGeek).
  
  
• This is how gorgeous solar power can be. Solar roofing tiles mimic terra cotta. (19 June, ecoGeek).
  
  
• UK: Washing machine that uses one cup of water. (22 June, The Telegraph).
  
  
• Pre-fabulous: a new look at prefabricated friggebods, ie cabins, ie ... baches! (21 June, The Independent).
  
  
• FIM (Federation Internationale de Motorcyclisme) creates a racing series for electric motorcycles in 2010 - will promote clean, fun, and fast technology. (24 June, Gas2.0.org)
  
  Natural world:
  
• Audio slideshow: Splendid Saturn - has long captured the imagination with its majestic rings & mysterious icy moons. (4 min). (22 June, BBC).
  
  
• Australian research: Where giant plants dare to grow. Global pattern to plant height discovered for the first time, after scientists reviewed the size and locations of more than 7000 species. (22 June, EarthNews, BBC).
  
  
• Ecuador: The plant that pretends to be ill. Explanation for variegation? (19 June, EarthNews, BBC).
  
  
• US: Hidden cancer threat to wildlife revealed. ...Many animal cancers are triggered or worsened by environmental pollutants. (24 June, New Scientist).
  
  
• How Neanderthals disappeared - evidence says maybe we ate them. (17 May, The Guardian/Observer).
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

Using ecoNet

Is easy. Just send in to the editor information about an event, activity or submission you want to share and it will go in ecoNet....as long as it's appropriate of course.

ecoNet is put out (Fridays) by Christchurch Branch of NZAEE (NZ Association for Environmental Education), a non-profit, national organisation of people working to promote and support environmental education, lifelong learning and sustainable behaviour throughout New Zealand/Aotearoa.

How do I contribute?

Use the links below to:

• forward ecoNet address to others you think may like to receive it - it's free
  
• become a subscriber
  
• send us information for the weekly diary.
• contact us

• Travel talk, slideshow, quiz:

  d'Arcy's last Global Awareness, Quiz & Slideshow in Aotearoa (for now).
  Interactive educational presentation to promote volunteering, third world development and global awareness. Based on experiences from 9 years and 48 countries.
  Speaker: d'Arcy Lunn, Sth Australian teacher, recently returned from Ethiopia & 3000 km round NZ by bike.
  When: 10.30 Friday, 26 June.
  Where: Unlimited School, 156 Cashel St.
  d'Arcy works for The Global Poverty Project.
  
  

• Last chance!: Theatre: My Name is Rachel Corrie.

  One-woman play based on e-mails and letters of a young American peace activist killed in the Gaza strip in 2003. Critically acclaimed abroad and cause of vigorous debate about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
  Director: Lara Macgregor.
  When: Season ends 27 June.
  Where: The Forge, Court Theatre.
  More background info & bookings etc: Here (www.courttheatre.org.nz) or 0800 333 100.
  (Discounts for groups of ten or more).
  
  

• 2009 Garden Bird Survey.

  When: 27 June - 5 July.
  More info: landcareresearch.co.nz
  Organised by LandcareResearch/Manaaki Whenua in collaboration with Forest & Bird, Ornithological Society, Ministry for the Environment.
  
  

• Talk: Trade Aid travels through India.

  Speaker: Helen Tulett, Trade Aid volunteer.
  When: 2.00 - 4.00 pm Sunday, 28 June.
  Where: WEA, 59 Gloucester St.
  
  

• Talk: Climate change.

  Kennedy Graham, Green MP, in discussion with Charles Chauvel, Labour MP.
  When: 6.00 pm Monday, 29 June.
  Where: Goodbye Blue Monday, Poplar St.
  
  

• Christchurch Refugee & Migrant forum.

  (a six weekly networking & learning venue for individuals & organisations with an interest in migrant and refugee issues).
  When: 10.30 - 12.00 pm Wednesday, 1 July.
  Also: 12.00 - 1.30 pm: Human Rights Commission presentation on NZ’s expanding Diversity Action Programme (Te Ngira).
  Where: Oxford Baptist Church lounge, corner Oxford Tce & Madras St.
  RSVP: marinar@hrc or 379 2015.
  
  

• Meeting: SAFE (Save animals from exploitation).

  Speaker: Hans Kriek, SAFE's campaign director, on upcoming reviews of layer hen and pig welfare codes. Will they actually make a difference for the animals?
  When: 7.00 pm, Thursday, 1 July.
  Where: Level 1, 145 Armagh St.
  
  

• Matariki, 1 - 30 June:

  Events calendar here. (www.bethere.co.nz).
  Also:
  Canterbury museum, Sunday 28 June: Traditional cultural performances for Matariki throughout the day.
  
  

• Workshop: Money & community resilience.

  An exploration of money, alternatives to the current financial monoculture, & the design of complementary currencies.
  Facilitator: Christoph Hensch.
  When: 9.30 am - 4.00 pm Saturday, 4 July.
  Where: St Albans Community Centre, 1047 Colombo St.
  Cost: gold coin.
  Contact/info/registration: 379 6305 or communitycentre@stalbans.gen.nz
  
  

• Book launch: "Passing Bells: Wars, Non-Violence and Common Morality", W.J. Foote, published by The Glen Press.

  Author: WJ Foote; Publisher, The Glen Press.
  When: 2.30 pm Sunday, 5 July.
  Where: Knox Presbytarian Church, corner Bealey Ave & Victoria St.
  
  

• EARTHWISE, Plains FM 96.9

  Each Monday & Wednesday at 9.00 pm.
  Conservation, environment and peace with justice.
  This week: Dean Baigent-Mercer, Forest & Bird, Don't Green the McKenzie Basin.
  Presenters: Martin and Lois Griffiths.
  NB: Listen again to Earthwise programmes on archive.
  

Coming up:

• Talk: University of Otago Christchurch's mid-winter dialogues series.

  Speaker: Tony Ryall, Minister of Health.
  Subject: ?
  When: 12.30 - 1.30 pm, Friday, 10 July.
  Where: Rolleston Lecture Theatre, Christchurch hospital.
  Contact: 364 1199.
  
  

• Talk: Teaching the 60's: Is it history?

  How far back do we have to go for something to be history?
  Speaker: Dr Philip Ferguson.
  When: 4.10 pm Friday, 10 July.
  Where: Room 321 Rutherford Building, University of Canterbury. (map here).
  All welcome.
  (University of Canterbury bridging programmes seminar).
  
  

• Otago symposium: What is the future of Public Conservation Lands and Waters?

  With one-third of Aotearoa New Zealand in public conservation, what visions and challenges are there for its future development and management? 
  Key speakers: Tim Groser, Conservation Minister; Al Morrison, Director General of DOC.
  When: 8.30 - 1.30 pm Friday, 10 July.
  Where: Hutton Theatre, Otago museum.
  Free. All welcome.
  Poster advt: www.otago.ac.nz/law
  Programme/contact etc: here
  
  

• Auckland event: Annual conference: Eco (Environment and Conservation Organisations of Aotearoa/NZ).

  Greening our way out of a recession.
  When: 10 - 12 July.
  Where: Karanga camp, 79 Te Henga Rd, Waitakere City (near Bethells Beach).
  More info/contact/registration: www.eco.org.nz/conference
  
  

• National one day workshop, Auckland:

  Incentives for historic heritage: Strategies that protect and reward.
  When: 9.00 - 4.45 pm monday, 10 August.
  Where: Jubilee Building, 545 Parnell Rd, Parnell, Auckland.
  More info/contact/registration: here. And more here.
  Organised by Auckland Regional Council and NZ Historic Places Trust.
  
  

• Short courses and public lectures: July - September.

  University of Canterbury's learning for life programme: courses on social issues, adult education, environment, community development, anthropology, cultural studies, climate change, etc.
  For info/to contact/& registration, see here: www.cbe.canterbury.ac.nz/community-education/courses.
  
  

• Free home composting workshops:

  Hot composting of kitchen scraps & garden waste, Bokashi and worm farms. All methods demonstrated.
  At several sites:
  1. Opawa Community Gardens, 176 Opawa Rd (at Aynsley Tce). 1.00 - 2.30 pm each Saturday.
  2. Okeover Community Garden - University of Canterbury, Engineering Road. (Map here). 12.00 - 1.30 pm each Wednesday.
  3. Lyttelton Community Garden, 54A Oxford Street, 10.30 – 12.00 pm each Saturday.
  More info/contact: Annmarie 021 190 4559 or 942 7190 (evenings).
  Also:
  4. Strickland Street Community Garden, 188 Strickland Street, Spreydon. Details and contact information: www.sscommunitygarden.net.nz/Get-Involved/Home-Composting-Workshop.
  All supported by CCC.
  
  

• Canterbury Restoration Field-days, September 2009: Bringing Back Biodiversity - “Get Inspired, Get Involved, Get it Right!”

  Registrations requested & expressions of interest to exhibit/promote your activity or business.
  (See www.canterburybiodiversity.org.nz).
  
  

• Wanted: Used milk cartons for use as tree planting pots.

  Info & very simple instructions here: www.treesforcanterbury.org.nz.
  (600,000 trees grown for Canterbury so far).